Names and faces
Actor Tom Hanks says he’s going on an “NFL moratorium” for two years after his California hometown Oakland Raiders leave for Las Vegas, but he didn’t explain what that will entail. The NFL approved the Raiders’ plan to move last month. A $1.9 billion stadium is to be built for the team with the help of $750 million in public money. “You cannot take the Silver and Black, put them in an air-conditioned dome in the desert, make them play on artificial turf within a stone’s throw of the fountains of Caesar’s Palace, and call them the Raiders,” Hanks said Monday at a charity event in San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Hanks told author Dave Eggers that the NFL is a billion-dollar industry and NFL owners are billionaires. Yet, he said, when the owners want to build a stadium, “they expect the city taxpayers to buy the building.” Hanks sees one positive in the Raiders’ exit: the possibility of a new baseball stadium for his Oakland Athletics.
Serena Williams said she was taking a personal photo of her progressing pregnancy on Snapchat when she accidentally pressed the wrong button and made the post public. The photo of the tennis superstar in a one-piece bathing suit was captioned “20 weeks.” Despite the lack of information, it immediately made headlines around the world last week. Her publicist later confirmed the pregnancy. Williams told Gayle King at the TED 2017 Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Tuesday night that the mishap wasn’t a big deal because she planned to share the news shortly. TED, short for Technology, Entertainment and Design, events try to spread the exchange of ideas through short talks. Williams says she plans to return to the court after becoming a mom.
Two-time Tony Award winner James Earl Jones will soon get a third — for lifetime achievement. The Tony Awards Administration Committee said Thursday that Jones will receive the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre on June 11 at the Tony Awards. Jones, the voice of Darth Vader and Mufasa from Disney’s The Lion King, has won Tonys for The Great White Hope and Fences. His Broadway credits also include On Golden Pond, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, The Best Man and The Gin Game.